This post is going to be non-video game related but will teach you how to afford your video gaming habit.

As a child do you remember saving up your allowance, birthday money, lunch money etc. for the things you wanted like video games or even video game systems?

Then you get your first job and enter adult hood. You become eligible for credit cards. You start buying the things you wanted with credit cards. You end up paying more than you should because of the interest. You end up under a huge pile of credit. The pile will only get smaller if you pay more than you spend.

That was me. I racked about $4,000 in debt. This is about the same amount I graduated College with in student loan debt.

It was ridiculous.

If I kept at my same pace. I would have a negative net worth until this day. I needed to make changes to my life style.

The first thing I did was sign up for one those apps that give you money. Free money not bad. There’s a ton of them. I use Mobile Performance Meter.

The free money thing didn’t work out. I wasn’t comfortable releasing my personal information to multiple companies. I still use the app to this day but usually use it to buy the fun stuff I want from Amazon.

I asked myself what do I have more control over?

Reduce Cell Phone Bill

I paid off one of my cell phones that was on my plan and reduced my monthly expense by about $28. I got rid of the insurance reducing it by another $10. Things happened along the way eg. ended up replacing one of my wife’s cell phone but at the time it helped a ton. You could also consider changing carriers, going prepaid, or getting rid of your cell phone. They also recommend not making any drastic life style changes but something’s got to give. Remember those sayings from your childhood like “when you are broke you need to learn to live without.” Also, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” You could also get a non-data consuming cell phone and do without a data plan. Remember living without data on a mobile device right? It wasn’t that long ago.

Cutting the Hair Cut Expense

I noticed I kept charging my $20-$30 haircut on my credit card. My son who is now 4 years old also had a hair cut expense that was running me $10-$20. If both of us had to get a hair cut that was $30-$50 at once. Man. That’s a lot if you are trying to pay off debt. I ended up purchasing a Remington hair buzzer for about $35. After it’s first use it paid for itself. I have been cutting my own hair and my sons hair for over a year now and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Learned a new skill and saved money.

Pay of Low Balance Credits Cards or Loans

I had maybe 1 – 2 low balance credits cards besides the one that was at nearly $4,000. There was an Amazon card that I was almost done paying off and a student loan. I ended up paying off the Amazon card and freed up $100 per month. I paid off the student loan and freed up $50 per month. With the cell phone costs and reduced I now basically I had an extra $188 to use towards debt.

Sign up for a Zero Percent Interest Card

I ended up taking a tip from my friend and did a balance transfer to a 0% financing Credit Card for 20 months. I am happy to report as of this day I have $100 left on that $4000. I used a card from Citi bank. I would check www.creditkarma.com for recommendations. I basically paid $200 a month utilizing the $188 I saved, I was already paying $100 per month towards debt.

Cut Cable

Another cost saving trick is to get just get Internet and Netflix. You are already paying for just the internet. Don’t pay extra for cable unless you are really in to the News and your man crush is Joe Moore. Also, don’t subscribe to Hulu, Amazon Plus and Netflix all at the same time. Just one at a time. You could also install Kodi. I won’t get into any details about that bad boy.

Get Rid of Monthly Subscriptions

How do you think the electric, water, cable, cell phone carriers, etc became so rich? They got you hooked monthly. I am not talking getting rid of electric or water. That is crazy talk but you could go off the grid. I am talking about things in your control. Like stopping Crunchyroll or Netflix for a few months until you get your finances in order. Get rid of the World of Warcraft subscription or instead of paying for 6 months at a time pay with game cards or monthly instead. Cut it off when it disinterests you. Get rid SWTOR or DCUO subscriptions. You can’t play 3 MMOs at once can you? You could also play GW2 and save yourself some money. I cut my monthly subscriptions and saved about $45/month. That didn’t include Netflix. I kept Netflix. I did get rid of SWTOR, DCUO, Crunchyroll and World of Warcraft for a bit. At the moment I am not subbed to any MMO. I did go back for 1-2 months at a time but did not charge for 6 months on my credit card saving money on interests and only playing when I could. I ended up saving money and could use more towards debt or just general living expenses.

Use a Radio

Remember when entertainment was free? It still is free. Those radio waves are still traveling across the sky. Remember getting in tune with your favorite radio station and static? I hate static. When I read dropping pretty much everything for a radio, I imagined a less chaotic world. Currently at my new job I play the radio all day. It’s the best version of free entertainment that costs no money. Also listening to 5 songs a day is supposed to reduce stress.

Start a Side Gig

I haven’t started this endeavor yet but even making $100 – $200 a month can help you save and put money on the side.

Pay Yourself First/Start a Emergency Fund

Remember saving? Saving is your friend. Paying debt should be a higher priority but if you can afford $5 – $25 a pay check, do it. In about 20 months if you save $25 a paycheck you will be at your $1000 emergency fund. Better than nothing. Your next goal should be up to 6 months of expenses. I’ll spare the details there are blogs out there were people talk their own personal experiences on how they did it. I was saving $50 per month. You could also put whatever bonuses you get in to the emergency fund.

Home Lunch

Pack your lunch. I’ve been slacking since I started my new job. I could easily spend $10-$20 a day eating out. In 20 works days a month that is $200-$400 per month on food. Now you see it? That is my debt repayment plan. If you pack your own lunch and eat breakfast at home you could save that or cut it by two thirds. When I was a broke college student, I would pack 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. At the time I spent about $40 a month on groceries just for my home lunches.

2nd Part Time Job

I haven’t worked 2 jobs in a long time. My old supervisor was having money issues and I recommended that she would pick up a part time job. I told her if you work 20 hours a week (a couple of night shifts and shifts on Saturday and Sunday) and made $400-$600 a month. How long would it take for you to pay off your debt? I referred her to my store. Sears in Kaneohe. She got the job. She ended up getting promoted to work in Jewelry from an MCA. She made enough extra money to pay off her debt and ended up going on a cruise. You might consider the new expenses like food costs or initial costs if you need to get a new uniform but in the long run you still end up making more money than you did before. Also, depending on where you work. You could end up spending less money on going out since you are always working.

Any one else got good ideas?

Thanks for reading. I really had to get this off my chest. I wish everyone much success and personal gains the rest of the year. At the time of writing this blog, my 19th month into my debt repayment endeavor, I am at a positive net worth.

The Broker in DCUO is different than the Auction House in World of Warcraft.

What do I mean?

The big difference is the prices in DCUO can change dramatically and some things are millions of dollars. Milllions $$$! There is no increments like Gold, Silver, and Copper in World of Warcraft.

It is similar in that if can break items up by category. It does have a pretty useful option when selected let’s you include items that are useful to you.

Recently I started to play again and these Qwardian Time Capsules would drop from every mob. I had no clue what they were except that you could use real life money to unlock them. They would drop all kinds of useful items that could help you get a ahead in the game and even gave you the potential to unlock cool cosmetic items via collectibles.

Little did I know that some of these collectibles sold for Millions of Cash. I was putting pretty much every collectible on there for $1,000 if I already had it. Thinking I was being generous and helping the community. It wasn’t until after I spend a $20 Gamestop gift card on Stabilizers that I realized I need $5,000,000 Cash for one of the super rare Collectibles called a Winning Lottery Ticket. I needed it for a really cool Aura I wanted called Citrine Misted Aura. See Below:

I had to remember my skills I learned from making Gold during my World of Warcraft days. In order to obtain the ultra rare item I needed I would have to pay real money to unlock Time Capsules or wait every 3 days to open x1 Time Capsule. I am still in the middle of my debt repayment plan in real life. This is also the month of March where it is my wife’s birthday, taxes, rental insurance and website hosting due all in the same month. My real life funds will not allow me to pay extra on my digital goodies.

I had to use the thing between my two ears. My brain. I had to think. When was the last time I had to think? I can’t remember.

Why I am short changing myself on missed opportunity on thousands to millions of Cash in DCUO? Why am I still buying items for my Base that I hardly go to? Why am I spending Cash on Style items that are useful but not as cool as the Citrine Misted Aura? I had to stop spending to save up for the real thing that I wanted, that god damned Winning Lottery Ticket.

So going back to the skills I learned from my first ever MMO I ever played. I remembered that I needed to find something rare to sell or something worth my time to farm and sell.

Those Simple Material, Complex Materials, and Anti-Matter Motes are dropping from the Qwardian Time Capsule. I was saving them for special emblems. They must be worth something?

I wondered how much they sold for? I checked the Broker. Bingo! I found my millions. I didn’t realize I was sitting on stock pile of Cash. So I sold them. I also sold my extra stacks of Exobits and Exobytes.

In order to reach my goal of $5,000,000 I was still short. Then I remembered those extra non-useful armors I was getting could be Salvaged in to Simple Material, Complex Materials, and Anti-Matter Motes. I knew exactly what to farm and all I had to do was to continue playing the game as I always did. Just needed to run Solos, Duos, 4-mans and 8-mans.

So I did.

Remember those Base Items I kept buying? I also remembered that certain Base Items sold for a lot of Cash, too. Again, I asked myself what is more important? I started to sell them, too.

Did I figure out the Secret to making Millions in DCUO? Sell Everything, Don’t Undercut, Pay Attention to the Rares and sell them for more, and Salvage all the useless Armors you get and sell the materials, sell your Base items, sell Exobits, sell, sell, SELL! Also, stop spending.

Now Imagine if I could apply these skills in real life. My debt would be paid off and I could start my positive cash flow earlier.

I have been playing DCUO off and on for a while now and just recently it occurred to me that Wow terms are very different from DCUO terms. While leveling to level 30 most of DCUO consist of running solo quests and doing some instances. Just the other night I actually received help from Shout chat not Trade chat. We did a few quests and ran a few instances. I actually had fun.

I am going to note a the differences here on this blog post. Even a Veteran Wow player needs to be shown the ropes especially while playing a different game.

One Major Difference is Player Housing or in DCUO it’s called a Base. You can actually decorate your Base with all kinds of furniture called Base Items. My toon has a very kinky set up at the moment.

Character names can have Capital Letters and x1 Space.

Sometimes this game feels like a play to win. There is a Marketplace where you can use real money to get cool vanity items and some benefit added to your character. Eg. Make it easier to find stuff eg R&D Scanner.

Your Character starts by selecting a power then a weapon. Your weapon you can change later on. You customize your character from the head down (Skin, Hair, Costume, Aura, etc). There is no race and no racial bonuses.

Styles. DCUO had a way to change your look before Wow had Transmog. You actually collect looks much like how you can collect appearances in the Transmog Tab in Wow.

Here is a list of terms:

Wow Term = DCUO Term

AH = Broker – I actually told someone last night that I was in the Meta Wing’s AH. He said, “What? I don’t understand.”

Mail = Mail

Quest Log = Journal

Enchantments = Mods

Enchanting Mats = Exobits and R&D Components (which by the way sell for a lot of Money in the Broker or you can trade them for Auras)

Gold = Money

Transmog = Style

Inventory = Bags

Bank = Bank

Guild = League

Potions = Soder Colas

Talent Trees = Traits

Spellbook = Loadouts

Achievements = Deeds – Unlike Wow, DCUO rewards you for experiencing the game. The Feat points do matter and every 100 Feat points gives you x1 Skill point. Skill points allow you to increase your abilities and equip a greater variety of weapons. Further down their respective tress you can get stat bonuses or add them to your Movement Tree.

Mounts = Movement – There are no Mounts in DCUO. You can pick between Flying, Super-Speed, Skimming, and Acrobatics.

Map = Map

Stormwind or any other major city = HQ eg. for Heroes it is the Watchtower. Remember the Justice League cartoons?

Mage Portal = Teleporter – You don’t need a Mage to port. Just need to go the specific Teleporter.

Raid Finder = On Duty

PvP = PvP

Well that should be a good start. I hope some of you check it out. It is a good break from the Fantasy Genre and a good escape to the Super Hero DC Universe. I really enjoy the comic book style cut scenes after completed each group activity. It’s bed time for me. Good Night. /sleep

I have taken a break from World of Warcraft. I am not sure if I will renew the hosting services for this website in March. I can’t see myself paying $13.00 a month on something I haven’t used since September. Well if it is good bye I will always be on Twitter.

Be warned. Once you make it to a Barber Shop. The only option you get removed once you spend a couple of hours or so in the starting zone is the Skin Color. Night Elf had the option for normal looking skin, a fel themed skin, and a hardened demon like skin.

I went with the hardened demon skin with the hardened face. I wish Blizzard went with the option to change your Skin Color since we are only allowed one Demon Hunter per server. Essentially you would have to delete your current Demon Hunter then remake your Demon Hunter. Just make sure you pick up all the hidden items. The important 2 items you need to make sure you get are the 28 slot bag and the buff item that increases your agility and stamina, Inquisitor’s Menacing Eye. See this guide for more details.

Well that’s it. That’s how far I got on my Demon Hunter. I can’t wait to see more Lore. Basically a free level 100. Get it to 110 before the next holiday event and you will have another toon to help you farm the elusive Big Love Rocket.

‘Til next time…

! Guntitan

]]>http://www.drunkendwarf.net/2016/09/04/the-quick-demon-hunter-post/feed/02642Crunchyroll Wallpaperhttp://www.drunkendwarf.net/2016/07/06/crunchyroll-wallpaper/
http://www.drunkendwarf.net/2016/07/06/crunchyroll-wallpaper/#respondThu, 07 Jul 2016 05:17:05 +0000http://www.drunkendwarf.net/?p=2635I wanted to pimp out Windows 10 with a Crunchyroll Theme so I made a wallpaper.

Also check out this anime. It reminds me of an 80s cartoon with an epic story line. Then I found out it is based off a series of books written by an Australian author. It is amazing.

I have been watching Anime on this website more than anything else in my life! Imagine a free, ad free, virus free, streaming service that shows the latest and most popular animes from Japan. If you subscribe you get the added benefit that provides the Anime episode the day of or the day after it is released in Japan. They also have Manga, TV shows, and Movies, too. No more waiting months for a VHS tape to arrive in the mail in order to watch an anime sent from a cousin of a friend who lives in Japan.

After a long stressful day at work and after my wife and son go to sleep. I put on my Skullcandy Aviators and turn my Samsung Tab 3 7.0 and just watch anime. I just Immerse myself in other worlds. Distraction free except for a few minor sips of my favorite beverage.

I encourage you all to check it out.

]]>http://www.drunkendwarf.net/2016/06/28/the-crunchyroll-post/feed/22629Overwatch is a fun game.http://www.drunkendwarf.net/2016/06/08/overwatch-is-a-fun-game/
http://www.drunkendwarf.net/2016/06/08/overwatch-is-a-fun-game/#respondThu, 09 Jun 2016 08:49:40 +0000http://www.drunkendwarf.net/?p=2626I recommend anyone who is not into First Person Shooters to get it. I hate FPS but I am enjoying this game. Finally got a “Play of the Game!”